In the News: Canyoneering in Arizona: In wet suits and helmets, you climb, crawl

Canyoneering in Arizona: In wet suits and helmets, you climb, crawl, slide, glide and slither

By Associated Press, Published: November 6

SALOME CANYON, Ariz. â€” I was about to follow a man I'd just met through a sweltering desert, into the crevices of a canyon, over wet boulders, down a waterfall, through a bone-chilling creek, down rock faces and up through the desert again.

"Sometimes while you're in the canyon, you won't be able to hear me," said my (hopefully) trustworthy canyoneering guide Chuck Chapman as I and three others embarked on a canyoneering adventure in Tonto National Forest, a sprawling desert landscape about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from Phoenix. "If I tap my helmet along the way, I expect you to respond by tapping yours to tell me you're OK."

Several things raced through my mind in response as we prepared to throw caution, and apparently our bodies, to the wind and rock face of Salome Canyon.

Such as: When are you not OK when you are lowering yourself into a canyon? If you are not OK, would Chapman realize before it's too late?

Gotta love all the newspaper stories about the "mysterious, forbidden" world of canyoneering, and how scary it is. Took both my son and daughter through the Jug as their first canyon when they each were seven. I believe Natalie giggled her whole way through. Guess she'll never be a reporter

--- In Yahoo Canyons Group, "TomJones" <ratagonia@...> wrote:
Canyoneering in Arizona: In wet suits and helmets, you climb, crawl, slide, glide and slither
By Associated Press, Published: November 6
SALOME CANYON, Ariz. â€” I was about to follow a man I'd just met through a sweltering desert, into the crevices of a canyon, over wet boulders, down a waterfall, through a bone-chilling creek, down rock faces and up through the desert again.
"Sometimes while you're in the canyon, you won't be able to hear me," said my (hopefully) trustworthy canyoneering guide Chuck Chapman as I and three others embarked on a canyoneering adventure in Tonto National Forest, a sprawling desert landscape about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from Phoenix. "If I tap my helmet along the way, I expect you to respond by tapping yours to tell me you're OK."
Several things raced through my mind in response as we prepared to throw caution, and apparently our bodies, to the wind and rock face of Salome Canyon.
Such as: When are you not OK when you are lowering yourself into a canyon? If you are not OK, would Chapman realize before it's too late?
(more) http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/canyoneering-in-arizona-in-wet-suits-and-helmets-you-climb-crawl-slide-glide-and-slither/2012/11/06/a033c332-2834-11e2-aaa5-ac786110c486_story.html